It’s real! A real deepfake that is!!
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the latest “celebrity” to have his image and voice deepfaked on Alex WoodsZ YouTube channel, which features everyone from Elon Musk to Jordan Peterson. The nine-minute video with almost 50,000 views depicts an often giddy Justin Trudeau reading his favourite book Derek Smith’s bestseller How the Prime Minister Stole Freedom in his Centre Block office.
Get Woke Up! chatted with Quebec content creator Alex WoodsZ about the making of the hilarious video, deepfake technology, and what’s in store for his next project.
Real Q and A with Real Fake Creator Alex WoodsZ
GWU: Why did you decide to make a video of Trudeau reading from the picture book How The Prime Minister Stole Freedom?
AW: Derek Smith, the author of the book, contacted me and suggested the idea. I loved his book and I liked the idea of Trudeau reading his own story, without even realizing it. I mean, it’s plausible.
GWU: How long have you been making Youtube videos and deepfake videos?
AW: I’ve been playing with videos for years. It started simple, and slowly I perfected my techniques. I started to put them online officially about one year ago. I’m always trying to push the limits.
GWU: Are you professionally trained and do you work in the video/media industry professionally?
AW: I am a self-taught programmer. I never worked in the media industry; although I had my own business on the web for years, but I got tired of it. I felt I had done enough, so now I’m focusing on my own projects, like these clips.
GWU: Is Alex Woods your real name? Have you encountered any problems in real life for making your controversial videos?
AW: That’s a very good question! Yep, very good question! And no, no problems yet. Who would want to cause me problems? I bring joy to all of Canada! In a world of snowflakes, controversy is so easy… But let’s face it, if my goal had been to create REAL controversy, I could have gone a LOT further than I did. I showed restraint.
GWU: What is your method for making the deepfake style videos? Is the audio taken from real sources or created with software etc?
AW: It is a mix of different existing techniques. The basic software is called Deepfacelab. Then I work with After Effects and other software. For the voice, it’s a little bit of my personalized formula, partly AI and other software, that I modified for my needs giving me the ability to have more tones (The advantage of being a programmer). And many, many, many manual adjustments…
GWU: Why are you making videos? Do you have a political message or end goal with them? Do you strongly support/are involved with any particular political party?
AW: I love creating, designing and programming. And I like to make people laugh. So making deepfakes is the perfect mix of all of those for me. Politics is a circus, and we have many clowns in Canada. If I had to choose a party to align with, I would choose the PPC with Max Bernier. In Canada, it’s always the same story, vote Libs to get rid of the Cons, vote Cons to get rid of the Libs. Canadians are stuck in an endless loop.
GWU: Your videos’ are not only technically competent and detailed, but your comedic timing is masterful. (The Jordan Peterson / Musk one is priceless!) What are your comedy influences that factor into making your videos?
AW: Thank you! I love the style of Ricky Gervais and anything that is politically incorrect. But for my own videos, the ideas mostly just pop out of my crazy brain.
GWU: Do you see any ethical issues with creating deepfake videos?
AW: It was inevitable that we would go through this stage. Deepfakes will become more and more realistic. There will be a time, and we may be living in it now, when a video will have no credibility. “But I saw it in this clip!” will be worthless. So blocking or trying to stop deepfakes would be a complete waste of time. It will transform the movie industry. In maybe a decade, people will choose their actor, their story, their emotions, and ask an AI to concoct a movie to their liking. The deepfake will only be the first basic step in the creation of future Hollywood blockbusters.
GWU: Your channel is sure to blow up with this recent Trudeau clip. What are your long term plans for it and what is your next video going to be about?
AW: Yes, I think it can become very popular, if youtube doesn’t suddenly decide to block it because I ridiculed the Prince of Canada. I’m already planning my next clip. But let our Chancellor be reassured, he won’t be part of it. Let’s just say that after six weeks of working on his voice and playing with his face, I’ve had enough…for now. I already have an idea of who my next ‘victim’ will be. I mean, my next ‘actor’. But I prefer to keep it a secret. To keep everyone on their toes. “Will I be next?! Will I be next?!”
GWU: Our readers can always check out getwokeup.com to find out! Thanks for being woke up Alex!
AW: Thank you, please visit my social media channels for more of my videos.
